How would you teach GIS to the general public?

[JosephKerski]

As a geographer, GIS professional, and educator, I have long been interested in the challenge of teaching something as technical and rapidly advancing to the general public.  I know that many others in the GIS professional community have a similar desire to share what GIS is and why it matters to friends, family members, and perhaps even the general public.  Ways to engage the public include BioBlitz and other citizen science efforts, writing for newspapers and appearing on local TV newscasts, hosting GIS Day open houses, public library workshops, Earth Day/Earth Science Week initiatives, and through courses and workshops.  In this essay I describe a course that I have developed and have taught many times over the years. Here I share its latest incarnation in the hopes that this model will provide inspiration for you as you teach your own workshops and courses. 

Before we go any further, you might, and rightfully so, ask "Should the general public be taught about GIS?"  If so, why?  I would contend that (1) because all 21st Century problems -- including energy, supply chain management, natural hazards, water, climate, population change, economic vitality, health, and so many others -- are spatial in nature--they are global issue that affect the general public's everyday lives; (2) to solve these problems and to build spatial literacy "takes a village" and must include stakeholders from all backgrounds and ages, I contend that yes, the general public should be taught about GIS; and (3) The general public is engaged in a wide variety of fields and disciplines.  GIS and education is ultimately tied to the future of the workforce that keeps their own organization (business, government agency, university, nonprofit) vibrant and healthy.

I also believe that to engage the general public and help them to care about GIS and ultimately fostering care for the planet, such a general public course must be fun and interesting.  How can we do that?  Any topic can be taught in an interesting way or a dry, boring way.  For engagement, my course contains several key elements:  (1)  It fosters dialogue, discussion; it is not me lecturing about the wonders and glories of GIS.  (2) It is heavily "why maps matter" focused rather than diving deep into the theoretical underpinnings of GIS (though I do find ways to make the shape of the Earth, different ways to make a map, and other elements appealing).  I also lay some foundations with geographic innovations, past and present, including segments of my book Interpreting Our World.  I ground the course into a correct understanding of geography and geographic processes.   (3) It ties into current events: There is never a shortage of events to turn into "GeoNews" segments; when I taught this course in September 2022, I included mapping the live feed of Hurricane Ian in ArcGIS Online, for example.

Along the lines of engagement I ask a series of questions during the course that are the types of questions that I hear in stairwells, airport shuttles, in public libraries, and other everyday places.  These take many forms and you can be creative with them, but I almost always include these three:  1. Haven’t all the maps been made?  2. Are paper maps still relevant in our digital age? 3. How can maps help us solve our 21st Century challenges?  Another way to keep the audience engaged are through polls such as those offered in Zoom and other platforms, and also using ArcGIS Survey123, which offers the further advantage of mapping the results instantly and having a discussion of how this is possible. 

Any general public course must also engage a broad spectrum of people where they are.   Most people either (1) like to get outside, (2) like maps and visualizations, or (3) like technology and cool things technology can accomplish:  Hopefully all three! My course uses a variety of interesting maps and apps to draw them in.  I sprinkle a variety of scales and themes into each of these courses--literally there are choices from A to Z - archaeology, anthropology, and architecture--to zoology, and nearly every letter in between.

People also have a deep sense of place and space--like music, these elements are fundamental to the human experience.  Thus, three things I always do in these courses are:  (1) ask the participants to make a sketch map of a memorable place they remember from their youth--their neighborhood, a map of their school, or a place they regularly traveled to; (2) zoom to where they live on a variety of different base maps--satellite image, open street map, and others; (3) focus at least part of the course on issues in the region where I am teaching the course.  Here in Colorado, that sometimes means mapping ski areas, 14,000-foot Rocky Mountain peaks, rivers and reservoirs and our water issues, perimeters and tracks of wildfires, hailstorms, landslides, and tornadoes, precipitation, the economy, and urbanization and population increase.  What are the most pertinent issues in your region?

Furthermore, people really do want to see problems solved in our world and are interested in how this can happen.   Solving problems with spatial thinking and geotechnologies helps these courses remain positive amidst so many variables (ocean acidification, losses from hazards, crime, health, and so on) trending in the wrong direction.  People are also interested in something they feel they can contribute to--and geotechnologies offer a variety of in-the-field and using-a-mapping-app in a crowdsourcing environment that the everyday person can engage in to make a positive impact in their community or around the world. 

I have had the honor of teaching this course or some of its components over the past 25 years in such settings as GIS Day, for the Academy of Lifelong Learning, for the University of Denver's Enrichment and lifelong learning programs, for community groups, at public libraries, in BioBlitz outdoor environments, at the Colorado State Fair, and in other settings.  These groups have ranged from primary and secondary aged students to university aged students, lifelong learners, senior citizens and retirees, a wide swath of the general public literally from age 7 to 90, and also to specific interest groups such as flyfishers.  I don't do the same thing twice; I always tailor the course to the audience and their needs, ages, whether it is inside or outside, whether I have a computer in front of me, and whether the audience has a computer or device in front of them or not.   I keep the course up to date and given the rapid advancement of GIS, the course is in the process of continual refinement.  As so much of modern GIS is web based, the course lends itself well to face-to-face and online settings.  I have taught it far more often online than face to face over the years.

The full course is about a half-day, four hours, but I have taught numerous 1 hour versions of this course and also up to 8 hours.  The modular nature of the course and the topics lends itself well to being taught over several sessions, such as every Friday afternoon for 1 hour over the course of a month, for example.  In fact I would argue this is the best approach, rather than the whole set of contents at once.  When you break it up, you can assign short and fun homework assignments.  These assignments include asking the participants to fill out a Survey123 that I have designed where they map a tree or two in their neighborhood, identifying the condition, height, and species, or current sky conditions, a storm drain, or something else.  I also frequently assign a web map or app URL and ask them to name the most intriguing thing they learned while using it. 

I use a variety of engaging web maps and apps to get the participants excited about the content and also to illustrate the importance of GIS and mapping in our world.  Many of these apps are from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, but I also include maps that I and others have made in ArcGIS Online or via story maps.  I also include visualizations from Gapminder, Bouncy Maps, Worldmapper, and other sources.  We examine the Starbucks map, the story map of the Titanic, the Esri Wayback imagery app, the water balance app, the drought aware app, the USGS Esri historical topographic maps, the Landsat imagery app, and the Landsat Lens app. I include maps that I have made of the distribution of state high points and extreme temperatures, among others.  After showing the JHU Covid dashboard, I also show my Walkability story map, web map, survey, and dashboard, and after doing so, say " I care about walkable neighborhoods.  What do you care about?"  This illustrates the connectivity of the ArcGIS tools which are straightforward to configure and yet so powerful. 

Themes that I repeat during the course with the above web maps and apps examples are:  Holistic thinking, patterns, relationships, and trends, the coupling of time and space, the connection of the hydrosphere, lithosphere, anthroposphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere, that the Earth is a dynamic, the geographic inquiry process, and the differences and similarities between geology, geography, GPS, GIS, remote sensing, and cartography.  Undergirding it all are the questions, "What's where? Why is it there?  Why should we care?"

On the technical side I do discuss and illustrate the mapping of real-time data and static data.  I also want the participants to develop a critical eye for maps: Therefore, I show a good deal of maps that are of questionable quality, or are just plain wrong.  I want them to realize that all maps are representations of reality--very useful representations, to be sure, but representations nonetheless.  And, nowadays, everyone is a mapmaker and can share their maps on open platforms such as ArcGIS Online.  Therefore, maps need to be viewed critically, realizing they all have errors and distortions.  I usually give at least one spatial analysis demonstration to solve a problem about hazards or energy, anchoring spatial analysis in the John Snow cholera map and analysis of 1854. 

Maps and GIS is inherently and increasingly personal, so one way of engaging the public is to talk about what data they are sharing via their phone apps or media posts about their location.  I discuss key societal issues from our data blog, Spatial Reserves that I want them to think about.   These include copyright, location privacy, and the ethics of mapping.  In every course, I encourage participants to follow along and use my techniques to make their own maps. I also make sure they know how to create a free ArcGIS Online developer account or how to purchase a personal use license, or purchase a storymaps.com account, and how they can engage in citizen science projects, so they can keep on mapping after the course ends.   I also mention the NRC's Learning to Think Spatially report and encourage the participants to reach out to their alma mater university, their childhood or neighborhood school, "geo-mentor" style (see my educating the next generation story map, here).  

I also make the course personal by including discussion on:

1)  Please share your favorite map!    I discuss my own favorites, which include the Erwin Raisz Landforms maps of the 1940s, the USGS Thelin and Pike first digital landform map from 1992, Lisa Berry's ArcGIS relationship maps, and the Orleans Indiana USGS topographic map of this fantastic karst landscape.  I also show some hand-drawn maps I made as a teenager.  But I refrain from giving too many because I want to hear what the participants have to say.

2) Please share your favorite geography or mapping book!  Some of my favorites are The Cartographers (a novel), The MapMaker's Wife, Land, Isaac's Storm, The Age of Islands, the Perfectionists, The Invention of Nature, The Map that Changed the World, Measuring America, Undaunted Courage, and of course, Longitude.  And I am rather fond of my own authored books including Interpreting Our World and Essentials of the Environment.  Again I refrain from giving too many because I want to hear what the participants have to say.

I also recommend making your general public course lively by including map quizzes.  I frequently show my Weird Earth or Name that Place ArcGIS Online based quizzes, my ground photograph quizzes such as this one, and my new landforms quiz that uses map actions.  

I also give encouragement to the participants to keep learning after the course ends!  I advice as to how to keep learning when using mapping tools:  

1. Don't get too attached to the hardware or software.  These change--therefore, develop the most important tool of all--your brain.
2. Don't just map--> ANALYZE.
3. Be critical of data, including and maybe most importantly, spatial data.
4. Ask questions.
5. Be tenacious.
6. Set goals and establish high standards.
7. Keep moving forward in your use of geotechnologies (through hands-on work with the mapping tools!  You can learn through lessons, podcasts (such as Thinking Spatially), MOOCs, videos, and other means).  

Multiple times during the course, I refer to the course philosophy:

1. Encourage the participants that problems are being solved with mapping technologies and the spatial perspective.
2. Empower the participants with skills to create their own maps!
3. State that "This is your course. Ask questions to enhance the learning experience!"

My course, which is provided in this presentation with links and in this video playlist, includes the above elements.   It is also provided as a category instant app, here.

Images from the general public GIS course described in this article.

The sections of the course include the following:

Section 1:  Course goals and objectives.  Haven't all the maps been made?  Are paper maps still relevant in our 21st Century world?  How can maps help us solve our 21st Century challenges?  Live demo:  Current hurricanes:   Adding content, changing symbology, changing classification.  Discuss implications of everyone nowadays being a potential mapmaker.

Section 2:   What is GIS and how does it help make maps and analyze our world?  Analyzing ground photographs and thinking spatially.  Mapping the highest elevation of each state. What's where, why is it there, and why is it there?  What is geography--its ancient roots, its high-tech nature, and its relevance.  Geography as the science behind GIS and mapping.  Holistic and systems thinking, with examples.  Phase 2 of mapping:  Seeing things with new ways with a traffic accidents example.  The geographic inquiry process.  What is Esri and what is its role and mission?  

Section 3:  Field work and its role.  Mapping field collected data.  GIS as a set of layers, analytical tools, and ways of communicating.  What comprise the geotechnologies?  What careers use geotechnologies?  What is cartography?  What are 5 forces acting on geotechnologies and society?-- geoawareness, geoenablement, geotechnologies in the cloud, citizen science, and story mapping.  My background and why I care:  Think about your own background.  Hands-on demo:  Starbucks map and business applications.   My favorite maps:  The Thelin and Pike digital landforms map.  Historical USGS maps, and more.

Section 4:  Cultural geography mapping:  Culture, population, music, and more.  My favorite map-related books. The Map that Changed the World, Longitude, The MapMaker's Wife, Measuring America, Isaac's Storm, others.  How do you think spatially in everyday life?  How can you think spatially in a purposeful way in everyday life?  

Section 5:  Recap of core course themes and objectives.   How mapping is incredibly relevant to understanding 21st Century challenges and to solve them: Health, water, energy, hazards, political instability, equity, population change, habitat, and more.   Map data libraries, beginning with the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.  How can I know if I can trust a map or a geographic data set?  Hands-on example:  The Drought Aware Mapping App.  Metadata.  The Esri Wayback imagery app:   Applied to urban sprawl, and surface water declines.   

Section 6:  Examining coastal erosion, agricultural expansion, the Three Gorges Dam, your own neighborhood, and other changes from natural and human causes with maps and imagery powered by GIS.  Landsat discussion. USGS historical topographic map in Esri historical maps mapping app.  Focus:  West Denver access to Rocky Mountains for the last 100 years.  ArcGIS Living Atlas Indicators of Planet Earth.  GIS as the nervous system for Planet Earth. 

Section 7:   How does data get into a map in the first place?  ArcGIS Dashboards with examples, including JHU Covid map, Joseph's walkability dashboard.  Connecting ArcGIS apps---maps, story maps, Survey123, dashboards, and others.  Boulder County 2013 flood story map analysis.  Titanic voyage story map illustrating the power of mapping.  Maps confirm and also challenge our preconceived notion of how the world works.  Discussion of map resolution and spatial accuracy.  Mapping litter from a field survey in ArcGIS Online:  Symbology, classification, and saving and sharing.

Section 8:  Continuing with litter mapping, and making a predominance map, relationship map, pie chart map. Ways to get free and low cost accounts so you can create and save maps in ArcGIS Online.  Story maps, their impact, analyzing a few story maps in the gallery.  Maps are analysis tools, not just reference documents. John Snow cholera 1854 analysis example.  Analyzing zebra mussels distribution and spread over space and time with GIS.  The advancement of GIS in schools and universities.  Map quizzes:  Name that place.  Weird Earth.  Discuss how these quizzes were made in ArcGIS Online.  Ethical issues:  Map errors, location privacy, fee vs free data, copyright, and more.  Resources for learning and moving forward. 

ArcGIS Gallery through which you can access the course materials.

I would love to hear how you approach teaching GIS to the general public, and what you include.

You could even include some of the above elements in your own secondary or university courses, or even your GIS Day presentations!

--Joseph Kerski